Thomas: Welcome to Author Update, your weekly dose of publishing news that actually matters to your career. This week we are breaking down Amazon’s massive algorithm changes. Some authors are panicked, some are excited. We will cover what changed, why your books may be dropping in rank, what to do about it, and three strategies to use right now.
We also have a traditional publisher closing that confirms my prediction about more traditional publishers going out of business. We will hit the latest sales data, Spotify’s audiobook moves, and a zeitgeist segment on a culture shift reshaping everything from Hollywood to the algorithms that feed you content.
I am Thomas Umstattd, Jr.
Jonathan: And I am Jonathan Shueger Jr. Let’s jump right in. And yes, Tron Thomas has recovered from the virus.
Thomas: The plague has subsided. Stomach bugs with small children are the worst. Thankfully everyone is keeping food down. I was so sick last week I could not even watch the episode. I hope Jonathan did not traumatize you by saying “I’m a Marine” over and over again.
Amazon’s New Algorithm: What Changed
Jonathan: According to The Bookseller, Amazon has been phasing in a new algorithm, replacing the old A9 system that leaned heavily on keyword relevance and historical sales. The new system prioritizes organic engagement and external traffic over paid ads and short-term promo spikes.
So instead of winning inside the Amazon ecosystem, the algorithm now prefers people arriving from outside Amazon. This aligns with a bigger tactical shift we will be talking about today. It is technical, but necessary.
Amazon is prioritizing outside traffic because it grows their ecosystem. They want traffic brought to them, not recycled within them.
The Big Tactic Shift: External Sales Matter More
Thomas: The biggest change is this: you no longer get the same organic boost from Amazon ads. Sales from people already on Amazon do not lift rankings like they used to. Sales you bring in from outside Amazon matter more.
Ads can still work, but there is less ripple effect. Your ads need to pay for themselves.
Jonathan: When launching on Amazon, you used to chain together many small hits to build sustained rank. With the algorithm change, tactics that worked three years ago may not get you that orange tag now. The rules are changing.
Earlier Amazon Changes You May Have Missed
Thomas: Amazon already nerfed burst sales. A few years ago, a BookBub could rocket you to the top for an hour. Amazon did not like that. Now bestseller rankings use a rolling average, and the charts update once a day. The “number one at 2 a.m.” screenshot play no longer works.
This is good for author mental health. Obsessing over hourly rank was brutal.
Because Amazon is rewarding external sales, Facebook ads are more effective than before. And the gold standard, your email list, matters even more.
Authors have been peeling readers off to buy direct or on Kickstarter. Amazon does not like that, so the algorithm now favors authors who bring sales to Amazon. You are not a slave to the algorithm. Ninety percent of 50 dollars beats 70 percent of five dollars. Direct and Kickstarter can still be the better business move. Just know it can hurt your Amazon rank more now.
Expect more AI-driven changes. They are layering large language models on top of machine learning. We warned you. We are nerding out.
Jonathan: This affects your mission. Are you chasing rank or maximizing sales bursts elsewhere? Ads still work inside Amazon. The external boost is a growth strategy because AI-driven checkouts are coming. Amazon wants to be the default vendor those bots buy from.
Thomas: Long-term growth. If you can turn someone into a reader, the whole industry wins and Amazon wins. The algorithm also rewards read-through and sustained sales. Strong sell-through from Book 1 to 2, 3, 4, and 5 beats a one-and-done Book 1.
AI Checkouts and the Walmart–OpenAI Deal
Thomas: ChatGPT signed a data sharing deal with Walmart. You will be able to check out inside ChatGPT, and Walmart is sharing its sales data with OpenAI. That is huge in their competition with Amazon. Walmart is cheaper, delivers fast, and returns are easier. This is part of the bigger AI-driven commerce shift.
Scam Alert: “Book and Wine Club” Emails
Thomas: Those emails offering to feature your book in a “Book and Wine Club” for a fee are scams. Real book clubs do not charge authors to be picked. If you are unsure, post the email at authormedia.social. We keep it humans-only with a small one-time fee to stop bots, and it is free for patrons.
Fundamentals Beat Hacks
Jonathan: Back to fundamentals. Write good books.
Thomas: No algorithm hack can fix a book readers do not want. “Good” means good to your readers, not your editor. These changes will push down AI slop because AI slop has poor read-through and does not bring humans to Amazon. One strong signal you are human is a human-narrated audiobook. That matters more now.
New Tool: The Ad Drafter
Thomas: I built a new Patron Toolbox tool called the Ad Drafter. Upload your book, pick a platform, and it generates 30 ad variations plus taglines and hooks for Facebook, Instagram, BookBub, Amazon, and Google. It is free for patrons at patrontoolbox.com.
We also picked a giveaway winner via ChatGPT: Angela Wilson. I emailed your code. If that is not the same Angela, we will make it right.
Traditional Publisher Shuts Down
Jonathan: Down & Out Books is closing after 15 years. They championed gritty noir and mystery. They told authors operations are ceasing immediately, royalty payments stop, books will be pulled, and rights will revert per contracts.
Thomas: I hope they issue formal rights reversion letters. Without a letter, re-publishing is a hassle.
They published nearly 1,000 titles with 500 authors and earned more than 50 awards. A sharp sales drop since 2020 made continuing untenable. Noir is out of step with the current zeitgeist. We are shifting from anti-heroes to heroes.
I pulled their site on the Wayback Machine. Cover quality was hit and miss, and genre signaling was weak. Many small presses spend on acquisitions, not marketing and ads. They cannot compete with indies who can test covers, pivot, and advertise. Be cautious signing with a press that offers no real advance and no paid marketing. Many authors will see sales and royalties go up as indies.
Sales Update: Indies Up, Trad Down
Jonathan: The KDP Global Fund grew 7.9 percent year over year and 3.1 percent month over month. That is a solid proxy for indie sales.
Thomas: The Association of American Publishers’ latest StatShot paints a bleak picture for trad. Consumer books fell 11.9 percent in July. Year to date: ebooks down 3.7 percent, hardbacks roughly flat at down 0.6, paperbacks down 9.1, mass market down 26.
The stunner: in trad, digital audio is now 13.1 percent of sales, surpassing ebooks at 12.9 percent. They buried the lead. For indies, ebooks still dominate because trad prices ebooks like hardcovers. Indies own the ebook space and are nibbling paper and audio too.
Religious books declined only 0.1 percent and Bibles are surging. Professional books, especially business, medical, legal, and technical, fell 9 percent for the month and 7.9 percent year to date. AI is eating reference. People ask AI legal and technical questions now.
SEO and AI Search: What Authors Need To Know
Jonathan: Quick hits from the latest Yoast SEO briefing, tailored for authors:
- ChatGPT still leans on Google Search to answer many queries. Optimize for Google and you benefit in AI answers too. OpenAI is working toward its own index.
- There was a sharp drop in ChatGPT web search traffic. Explanations include search efficiency, Bing API retirement, SERP access limits, and Cloudflare blocking bots by default unless allowed.
- Brave Search is a growing data source for AI. Do not assume all AI answers come from Google or Bing.
- A court ruled Google is a monopoly but does not have to break up. There is a push to force data-sharing with rivals. Expect legal fights, not quick change.
- ChatGPT updated its user experience to route sensitive prompts to more capable models to reduce harm.
- Good SEO is good GEO. Clear, well-structured, user-first content that answers questions wins in both search and generative summaries.
- The open web is closing. More content is paywalled as AI scrapes the web. Expect more answers to be delivered inside AI, without site visits. Functionality and clarity trump fancy design.
- Rolling Stone is suing Google over AI summaries hurting ad revenue. If publishers win, AI summary practices may change, but do not expect fast relief.
- You will need a public persona that AI can learn. ChatGPT Pulse is the first proactive personal assistant. It will curate news, finish routine tasks, and push content you habitually engage with. This is the new inbox.
- Post your key announcements on your website, not only in email. AI needs to see them to surface them.
- Be a preference. People will tag tastes and AIs will learn from purchase histories. You must matter enough to be added to someone’s profile.
- Rewrite AI-generated text. AI often mimics transcribed speech. The cadence is emotionally manipulative and exhausting at scale. Readers can smell it.
- Instant Checkout is rolling out inside ChatGPT via Stripe’s agentic commerce. Etsy is live. Shopify is coming. People will paste a list and an AI will buy the items. Books included.
Thomas: I watched OpenAI hit my site with about 14,000 page requests in one night. They are hoovering content. If you want to be recommended, feed the index with useful pages people want.
“Human-Made” Certifications
Thomas: A UK startup launched an Organic Literature Certification. It allows minimal AI for formatting or idea prompts, but the core writing must be human. The problem is adoption and trust. Bad actors chase badges. Real proof is human branding, a human-narrated audiobook, real reader engagement, and consistent sell-through. If they want this to work, they must market to readers, not just authors.
The Zeitgeist: A Subtle Shift Right
Thomas: We are seeing a broad step to the right among readers. Traditional publishers have a strong bias against conservative-coded narratives and are losing share to indies. Also, the censorship of conservatives on big platforms has eased after admissions by Meta and Google. That alone amplifies right-leaning voices.
There was also a strange algorithm shock when Charlie Kirk was mistakenly reported dead. For days, feeds were saturated with clips, which reset lots of recommendation engines. Many feeds shifted right as a result.
Jonathan: X is also making its algorithm more user-tunable. You will be able to ask for less political content or more faith content. That is healthier than a heavy-handed one-size-fits-all feed.
Case Study: Why Tron 3 Bombed
Thomas: Tron: Ares bombed. The main critique was that it was corporate slop. Casting told you the characters. The beats felt generic. More importantly, it subverted what made Tron work.
The original Tron is a deeply Christian-coded story. A broken digital world needs its creator, Kevin Flynn, to enter his creation and fix it. God becomes man. Tron: Legacy doubles down. Clu’s utopia becomes dystopia. The solution is the creator’s sacrifice to save his world. It is redemption across characters and creation.
Ares flips the polarity. The digital invades the human world and pollutes it with violence. It is a pagan framing, not a redemption arc. Maybe the film has redeeming themes inside, but the marketing promised the wrong thing. That is what matters. Audiences did not buy a ticket to find out.
Marketing Promise and Audience Fit
Thomas: Good marketing is making the right promise to the right people, then delivering. If your promise is wrong, you may never get the chance to deliver.
Jonathan: Know your gimmick, meaning your hook, setting, and why readers come to you. You cannot subvert your core appeal and expect the same audience to cheer. Star Wars learned this the hard way. Wizards of the Coast also misfired with a “D&D is for everyone” image that clashed with its own lore. It did not speak to its base.
Thomas: Do not try to “fix” your readers. If you start to resent them, it will poison your career. Love your reader as much as you love your book. That simple principle prevents most blunders. If you blow it but your readers know you love them, you can recover. If you blow it because you disdain them, there is no easy way back.
Closing
Thomas: Author Update is live Fridays at 4 p.m. Central. Replays are available, and we post segments on the Clips channel so you can share specific topics. The number one commandment of book marketing is to love your reader as much as you love your book. That is the top button that makes the rest line up.
Jonathan: Even if you make mistakes, loving your reader gives you a path back. If you do not, you have to start over.
Thomas: We will be back next week. I am Thomas Mtet Jr.
Jonathan: I am Jonathan Serger, Jr.
Thomas: Live long and prosper.
